Parenting Science Gang have come out of retirement for a special pandemic Q&A about preschoolers’ mental health and lockdown. Dr Pete Lawrence at Southampton University (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/psychology/about/staff/pjl1g13.page) is running a study on exactly this, and he kindly came along to talk…
With schools and nurseries shut, parents with young children are certainly feeling the effects of the pandemic. And they have a crucial job in keeping their kids safe and healthy - both physically and mentally. But do they feel they…
In Parenting Science Gang, parents of small children (overwhelmingly mums) came up with their own research questions and then designed and ran their own experiments to answer them. The questions they came up with were about the things that mattered in…
In this blogpost you’ll find reflections from the Parenting Science Gang (PSG) core team on what worked well and what we’d do differently if we were running a similar project again. Parenting Science Gang, while based on a similar premise…
In this blogpost you’ll find our top tips on engaging parents online and at face-to-face events. The golden rule of public engagement is to know your audience, and if you want to get parents involved, then you need to cater…
Why we think using Facebook for this kind of project works Our tips on how to make the most of Facebook and how to get around some of the challenges Why Use Facebook? It’s huge. It’s accessible. It’s familiar. We…
Project overview Parenting Science Gang was a citizen science project, run by and for parents and funded by Wellcome. Parent groups, in collaboration with scientists, designed and ran their own experiments to answer questions of importance to them. These groups…
This is the second in a highly occasional series. In 2016 I wrote a blogpost about what we'd learned from running Nappy Science Gang. That post proved so popular on science communication twitter, that 37 people emailed me asking for…
Flexischooling was in the news last week in Scotland, as Aberdeenshire Council debated a motion that would 'allow flexischooling' in the county. There have been numerous press articles, and helpful, 'what is flexischooling' explainers. Radio Scotland's morning phone-in show devoted…
Do you have parenting questions you can't find an evidence-based answer to? Are you part of a community with questions that get overlooked by mainstream science? Parenting Science Gang puts parents in charge of the research agenda. It's user-led citizen science,…